The Westminster Government is About to Destroy Welsh Farming

The Westminster government has turned its back on farmers. As usual, Wales will among the hardest hit as they pursue their smash and grab approach to Brexit, devolution, and the economy. Our livelihoods, our landscape, and our language are facing a dire threat.

Between pushing No-Deal Brexit as a “good outcome”, reneging on the Withdrawal Agreement and rejecting the food standards amendment to the Agriculture Bill, Boris Johnson and his MPs are throwing UK farmers under the bus. Passing the Internal Markets Bill, they are destroying devolution to make sure no one can stop them. Adding insult to injury, they are trying to brand Welsh exports with the Union Jack instead of the Welsh Dragon, an iconic and internationally recognised marker of quality Welsh produce.

When the a food standards amendment to the Agriculture Bill was voted on in parliament, every single Welsh Conservative MP voted against it. The House of Lords just voted to pass Amendment 93 to the Agriculture Bill to protect our food standards. When the Agriculture Bill goes back to the Commons, we need Conservative MPs to change their mind and back our farmers and food standards. Write to them here: https://sbf.onldspk.cc/MP

Our landscape and climate put sheep farming at the heart of Welsh agriculture – a No-Deal Brexit will collapse the lamb export market, causing a nearly 40% drop in the value of lamb output. Wales has a proud tradition of small, family-run farming – farms in Wales are half the size of those in England – and these are exactly the farms that will not be able to survive this shock.

Our farming and food supply will be handed over to agri-monopolies who will exploit Welsh land, livestock and labour, as the Internal Markets Bill could also undermine the Welsh Parliament’s hard-won powers to protect the wages of farm workers.

Three times as many Welsh people work in agriculture, forestry and fisheries than the UK average. In Powys and Ceredigion, the sector makes up 12% of jobs. If small Welsh farms go under, rural communities will be decimated.

So many areas where Welsh is still the language of day-to-day life are rural, farming communities. If these communities disintegrate, it could be the beginning of the end of the Welsh language itself. It is hard for those outside these areas to comprehend a world where English is not the default, where sheepdog auctions list on the programme which language each dog understands. If this world is lost, we might never get it back.

Westminster isn’t working for Welsh farmers. It’s time to say Yes to an independent Wales that will put our people, our produce and our environment first.